blossoming!

Oh my goodness, Ben is growing so quickly and blossoming right before our eyes! He's catching onto so much and communicating so much as well. It in such a beginning stage that it still catches us off guard when he does it. Today, we told him to go put a dirty shirt in the dirty clothes hamper. I never thought he'd do it and was really kidding, but low and behold, he walked straight back to his room and did it! Will and I had the most amazed looks on our faces since we didn't even think he knew what that was, much less could follow a one step direction. Well, he's 1 so I guess it's time, but he still feels like my baby so I guess I just wasn't ready for it. It's here now though so here we go.

By the way, one of his favorite hobbies is to go fish the wet diapers out of the trashcan and put them in the dirty diaper holder. (I only put dirty ones in there so I don't waste bag space with wet diapers that don't smell as much) It's really cute to watch, although I don't relish him digging in the trash. :) Oh well, it's not toxic and I wash his hands enough.

He's also in a climbing stage. He can crawl up on the chairs and onto the top of the kitchen table with no sweat. It's surprising and scary. :) So we have to keep the chairs away from the table so he doesn't do that.

Unfortunately, all this "understanding" has led to a discovery of his own "will". He's in a really fussy stage right now because he realized we wants to do all of this stuff that he can't or that I won't let him do. This is especially frustrating when he decides to get picky about his food and since I refuse to keep fishing around for stuff he will eat, he can either stop fussing or go to bed to take a break. I think he went hungry this morning, but he made up for it later and one or even two missed meals aren't going to hurt him. I think children's appetites are so subjective at this age anyway that they're always changing. However, he has a little habit right now if throwing food or drinks on the floor and so formal discipline has finally begun for him. It's hard to get used to because I still think of him as my innocent little baby who can't help crying or throwing etc. Not anymore!

He's also teething again right now so that's part of it. He's taking up to 3 naps a day at times and still sleeping a full 9-10 hours at night! It's a trial, but I'm hoping he'll learn the ropes soon and the fussiness will end.

It's also kind of funny because for the longest time we've worked on Charley sharing with Ben and he's done a really good job. But now, Ben has to learn to share and not always get into Charley's stuff. I'm glad Charley finally gets to feel and learn that the rules don't just apply to him.

Anyway, just another chapter in the beautiful life of my wonderful and really, really cute blue-eyed boy Ben.